Harry Redknapp began the evening naming two goalkeepers on Queens Park Rangers’ bench to make another statement about the paucity of squad options with the transfer deadline drawing ever nearer.

He ended it hailing a third who had at one stage embodied the club’s calamitous transfer policy but is fast becoming a symbol of genuine hope that QPR can avoid relegation from the Premier League.

Manchester City were not at their slickest but they still created enough to earn victory at Loftus Road last night were it not for Julio Cesar’s virtuoso performance.

The home side defended admirably, again displaying a new-found organisation and resilience under Redknapp that has helped generate hope from despair.

Yet QPR still needed Cesar to be at his very best, clawing away Gareth Barry’s first-half effort with superb agility before twice thwarting David Silva after the interval as City searched for a precious winner.

There were other less spectacular saves but after an early scare in which Cesar fumbled a Silva corner and Pablo Zabaleta’s diving header hit the bar, the 33-year-old’s handling was impeccable as he repelled the champions.

Opposite number Joe Hart, who made his own contribution to the goalkeeping heroics on show with a fine stop to deny Adel Taarabt at the end of a piercing run from the midfielder, felt suitably moved to swap shirts with Cesar in the centre-circle at the end.

Hart is considered by many to be among the best goalkeepers in the world but the way he heartily embraced Cesar resembled a metaphorical doffing of his cap in acknowledgement of a master of his trade.

This was how it was supposed to be when QPR signed Cesar, a player with one Champions League, five Serie A titles and a Copa America with Brazil on a glittering CV, on a free transfer last summer.

Yet Cesar arrived weeks after Rob Green had moved to Loftus Road in the belief he would be the club’s No1 keeper. It smacked of a scattergun approach to the transfer market that created a fractious QPR dressing room with longer-serving players on modest wages resentful of newcomers on disproportionate incomes.

Cesar and Green both had runs in the team but now it appears the former — who has made 19 appearances to Green’s 10 — is Redknapp’s established first choice after starting five successive League games.

“It would be very hard to leave him out of the team, for sure,” said Redknapp. “Rob Green has done fantastic when he has played as well. I am lucky that I have two good keepers and I want to keep them both around. They are both great pros. But Cesar is exceptional, there’s no doubt.

“It was a difficult night for goalkeepers. Skiddy ball, windy. Very difficult — quite a bobbly pitch. You only have to look at his record and what he has done in the game. It is just amazing. He has won everything. He is an amazing keeper.”

QPR have now conceded just one goal in four League matches since the turn of the year and Redknapp believes momentum is building. “Everybody worked, did their jobs and you can’t ask for more,” he said. “That’s on the back of Chelsea away, Tottenham, West Ham away, West Brom. It’s a fantastic run. When you look at the games that were coming, the amount of points we had taken, the way we have performed has been excellent.”

Despite their mini-revival in the League, doubts must remain about QPR’s ability to stay up and Redknapp admitted as much by claiming “we’d be in trouble” if several more players do not arrive at the club. He addressed his fears today by signing South Korea defender Yun Suk-Young on a three-and-a-half year deal.

Chairman Tony Fernandes was not at last night’s game, claiming on Twitter he was “working hard to sign a couple of players”, but nevertheless Redknapp provided an unsubtle reminder of the need to spend by

naming goalkeeper Brian Murphy alongside Green on the teamsheet. Even with Jamie Mackie and DJ Campbell absent, it was hard not to read it as a cry for help.

“I have given them a list of players that we spoke about and the chairman is trying to get one or two for us,” said Redknapp, who confirmed his interest in Stoke striker Peter Crouch and former Blackburn defender Christopher Samba, now at Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala.

“As you saw last night, we are short. We had two goalkeepers on the bench tonight because there is nobody else really.”